Timothy Szymanski

TIMOTHY R. SZYMANSKI has been in the fire service for past 41 years and is the Public Education & Information Officer (PEIO) for Las Vegas, NV, Fire & Rescue. He has worked in every position from firefighter/paramedic to fire chief. Szymanski is a Nevada-certified Fire Service Master Instructor and holds national and state certifications in many areas of the fire service. He has received numerous awards, including the 2008 Liberty Mutual National Firemark Award for Community Education and the Community Service Award from the Nevada Broadcasters Association. He was the Fire & Emergency PIO during the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. His website is www.firepeio.com and Twitter at firepeio.

W hat is carbon monoxide (CO)? It is a tasteless, odorless, invisible gas that is produced as a byproduct of incomplete combustion, or simpler said of anything that has a flame. CO weighs about the same as air (specific gravity 0.965. air is 1), so it...

One of the main duties of a fire department public information officer (PIO) is to disseminate information. To do that correctly, the PIO must gather information and ensure it is accurate. When the media cover a story, they need to know who, what, when...

No matter what type of department you are a member of – volunteer, combination or career – it should have a designated public information officer (PIO). It doesn’t matter where you are; every place has the potential of becoming the site of a major...

Firehouse Managing Editor Elizabeth Neroulas talks with Tim Szymanski about his article, " The Fire PIO: How Important Is a Designated Public Information Officer? " that appears in the January 2012 issue of Firehouse Magazine .
Szymanski shares the...

Fire safety education is not the most popular part of the fire service, but probably is one of the most important. It can save lives and property as much, if not more than, suppressing a fire after it starts.
Every fire department, whether volunteer...

For the past 41 years, I have worked in every position from firefighter all the way to fire chief and all the positions in between, such as paramedic, fire service instructor, fire and life-safety educator, fire investigator, fire inspector and fire...